1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to valves, and more particularly to fluid divider valves for selectively controlling fluid flow to multiple outlets simultaneously.
2. Description of Related Art
Some gas turbine engines are configured to utilize different fuels from multiple fuel systems. For example, gas turbine engines used for power generation have been configured to selectively operate on either gaseous fuel, such as natural gas, or liquid fuel, such as Diesel or any other suitable liquid petroleum product. The operator of such an engine can choose to operate on gaseous fuel or liquid fuel based on whichever fuel is the most available or cost effective at any given time.
Other dual-fuel gas turbine engines use a first fuel for start up and a second fuel after start up. For example, certain dual-fuel gas turbine engines for an aircraft use a first fuel during start up that is of a type known to ignite readily, such as a pre-atomized liquid fuel or a gaseous fuel. After start up, the dual-fuel engine can switch to a less volatile fuel that is more economical. U.S. Pat. No. 4,258,544 to Gebhardt et al. describes dual-fuel gas turbine engines of the type just described, and provides for dual fluid fuel nozzles used to selectively inject two different fuels into the combustor of a gas turbine engine.
In many conventional dual-fuel gas turbine engines using gaseous and liquid fuels, there is a manifold for the liquid fuel system that distributes fuel from a liquid fuel supply line to multiple liquid fuel injectors. When operating on gaseous fuel, the liquid fuel manifold is not pressurized with liquid fuel. This permits cross talk, which is the pumping of gaseous combustion products from the combustor back through the liquid fuel injectors, supply lines, and manifold due to small differential pressures between the injector outlets. Some components of combustion, when combined with water, produce compounds such as H2SO4 that are corrosive. Corrosive compounds degrade engine components and reduce their operational life. In short, cross talk in the liquid fuel manifold leads to a reduction in the operational life for components in typical dual-fuel engines.
Conventional methods and systems used in multiple fuel gas turbine engines have generally been considered satisfactory for their intended purpose. However, it would be advantageous to isolate each liquid fuel injector and supply line from the others and thus eliminate corrosive cross talk when such an engine is operating on gaseous fuels. The present invention provides a solution for these problems.